Come Autumn
Fall is upon us! I couldn't be happier. We started out the summer strong, but the days upon unstructured days coupled with the hottest, most humid weather I ever remember experiencing in the northeast has made us all a bit crazy. I was feeling badly about being one of those moms who can’t wait for summer to end and kids to go back to school, but my mom assured me that most women who are being honest feel this way, especially if they stay home with their children. So I’m not going to feel bad about it anymore. It is what it is. School starts in just a couple more weeks, and the past two days the weather has been glorious, with a hint of fall in the air. We have been able to get outside again, we had a picnic playdate with sweet friends at our local arboretum, and we are all so much happier and better behaved when we're out, about, and active. Sometimes I envy families that seem to be able to be housebound for long periods of time (e.g., snow days) without seeming to get antsy or miserable. We are NOT that family. We of course do spend lots of time at home, but it never seems to be spent leisurely, and we all need a good dose of out-and-aboutness to keep our sanity in check. Know thyself, I guess.
If you are a parent, what name does your child/ren call you? I was “mama” for about two seconds, then I was “mom” which killed me because I thought I would be “mama” until at least elementary school, and now I am MOTHER. And Nick is Father. Can someone please explain this to me? In response to a correction I gave her yesterday, Eloise said, “Okay, thank you for organizing me, Mother.” If (when) an apology is needed for something, it’s always “I’m sorry for doing that, Mother.” I wish I could insert about a billion Emojis at the end of this paragraph.
I still have a ways to go on my summer reading list. I enjoyed The Nest and Opening Belle but haven't truly loved any of my picks, and sent a couple back to the library midway through. As of this week, though, I'm finally reading one that I can’t put down! I started it a couple days ago and am almost finished. Finally! Any other good reads I need to know about?
Clothes. How do you shop for upcoming seasons? All at once, or piecemeal? I normally do it in one fell swoop, planning out what we need, waiting for a sale, and then dropping a good chunk of change before the season starts so I don’t have to think about it again until the next season.
Some of the problems with this method are:
Eloise inevitably picks her favorite couple of items and wears them to death. I can't forecast what these items will be in advance, but I try (which takes a lot of guesswork and anxiety on my part) and usually fail, resulting in a closet full of unworn clothes and two things that are in constant rotation.
To add insult to injury, the two aforementioned favorite items are usually either a hand-me-down from friends, or clothing that is gifted to the girls from family or friends, which makes me wonder why I even bother.
For my own wardrobe, I like to have somewhat of a uniform for simplicity, but I also like a little flexibility so I'm not wearing the same thing over and over again. So I SAY I do a big shop once a season, but sometimes I end up supplementing midway through the season which defeats the purpose of my one-time-shop.
Nick never gets any new clothes this way because I spend six months of our clothing budget at a time. Most of his clothes can be traced back to 2007. (Thankfully he doesn't care, or usually even notice, which is reason number 4 billion that I believe engineers make the best husbands. Low. Maintenance.)
For the upcoming fall season, I plan on taking a different approach to clothing acquisition which I’m going to call “do nothing.” Eloise’s favorite summer dresses can easily be modified for cooler temperatures with a cardigan and leggings. Amelia never needs any clothing because she was born during the same season as her big sister, and most of Eloise’s old clothes are still in great shape until about the 2T size when she was really moving and shaking. Any clothing that is gifted to the girls for birthdays, Christmas, etc. will be factored into their wardrobes this way, instead of being additional/excess clothing I hadn't originally accounted for.
So my children are getting a big fat nothing for back-to-school shopping, and I plan on focusing on buying what Nick and I need, since our wardrobes are usually pretty pitiful. Take that, kids! Filed under: things I can probably only get away with while my kids are still little.
Naptime is over, time to run!
